-- THE ARCHIVE --

UNITED STATES
School CP - February 2013

WCTV-TV, Tallahassee, Florida, 7 February 2013

Paddling in Schools Still Alive and Well in Georgia

Corporal punishment is still alive and well in Georgia. In
fact it's going on in a majority of the state's counties.

Wes Taylor, Lowndes County School Superintendent, states,
"the reality is that for teaching and learning to occur
there must be order."

But how? And at what cost? Despite the fact that it's still
legal, corporal punishment, or paddling, in Valdosta Schools ended
in 1996. More than a hundred out of the hundred and fifty nine
counties in Georgia still use paddling as punishment for
misbehaving in school. For those that have been on the wrong end
of the wood, memories are still fresh.

Jennifer Steedley, Lowndes County Mother: "the teacher
said if you don't remember to carry your zero you're going to get
a swat. And I was so nervous about carrying that zero that I
absolutely forgot. And right there in front of the class I got my
swat. But I can promise you that I never forgot to carry that
zero ever again."

No one incident led to the end of corporal punishment in
Valdosta... So what did it? School officials say the times are a
changing.

Wes Taylor, Lowndes County School Superintendent, adds,
"I think also that we've become such a litigious society.
That most school administrators that I know of have not used
corporal punishment in public schools in many many years."

Reporter: "I mean they don't want to get sued?"

Taylor: "exactly."

Valdosta School Superintendent Bill Cason practiced paddling
for 16 years as a principal in Georgia. He also thinks it stopped
in Lowndes because schools wanted to avoid getting sued. But the
experience of being the paddler revealed a different reason.

Bill Cason, Valdosta School Superintendent, stated, "we
typically ended up paddling the same children over and over
again. And almost to the point at times it seemed that some of
the kids used it as a badge of honor. I'm tough, I can take
whatever licks this principal or assistant principle gives me and
go back into the classroom smiling."

During the 2010-2011 school year there was nearly twenty two
thousand incidents of corporal punishment in schools across the
state. They included paddling, spanking and hitting children.

Corporal punishment is also still legal in twenty two states,
including Florida.

Two-minute news report from WCTV Tallahassee in Florida, about school CP in neighboring Georgia. The above text is more or less a transcript of this. Reporter Eames Yates visits Valdosta, where CP was abolished in 1996. Two district superintendents are interviewed. Both agree that it is the threat of litigation that is the main driver of abolition. A paddle is shown, but it is not clear whether it is a real one belonging to a school where spanking is currently in use.

HERE IS THE CLIP:

IMPORTANT: Copyright in this video material rests with the original copyright holders. This brief excerpt is reproduced under the "fair use" doctrine for private, non-profit, historical research and education purposes only. It must not be redistributed or republished in any commercial context.

Fayetteville Observer, North Carolina, 8 February 2013

North Carolina State Board of Education opposes use of corporal punishment in public schools

By Venita JenkinsStaff writer

Click to enlarge

The State Board of Education passed a resolution Thursday
opposing the use of corporal punishment in public schools.

The board's action would not affect local school boards'
policies on paddling as a disciplinary method. State law gives
local boards the authority to make those decisions, and a law
would be required to impose a statewide ban.

The vote was intended to show the state board's stance on the
issue, said a spokesman for the N.C. Department of Public
Instruction.

The resolution states that the use of corporal punishment has
been criticized by child development experts and advocacy groups.
It can "instill fear of physical pain in the victim, which
replaces any meaningful understanding of the underlying
punishment" and is harmful to students, the resolution says.

In the 2011-12 school year, 12 school systems allowed corporal
punishment, and there were 404 instances reported statewide,
according to a report released last month by the Department of
Public Instruction. That is a decrease of 55 percent from the
previous school year.

The most common reasons cited were disruptive and aggressive
behavior, according to the report.

This year, the number of school systems that allow corporal
punishment has dropped to nine.

Robeson and Bladen counties are the only systems in the Cape
Fear region that use corporal punishment. In March, the Columbus
County school board voted to eliminate paddling.

Robeson County, with 267 instances, had the highest number of
corporal punishment reports in the state in the 2011-12 school
year, according to the state. Bladen County had one case.

Mike Smith, chairman of the Robeson County school board
indicated Thursday that corporal punishment would not necessarily
stop in Robeson County despite the state's resolution.

"We appreciate the state board's position," said
Smith. "Once it becomes law, we will abide by it. Until
then, we will still enforce our policy."

Recent studies

Studies over the past two decades have shown that corporal
punishment does not change student behavior or improve academic
outcomes, said Tom Vitaglione, senior fellow with Action for
Children North Carolina, a child advocacy group in Raleigh.

"We are pleased that the State Board of Education leaders
have come to that conclusion," he said.

Rep. Marvin Lucas, a Democrat from Spring Lake and a member of
the House Education Committee, said attempts to ban corporal
punishment through legislation have not been successful in the
past.

In 2011, state lawmakers amended the current law to require
written permission from parents or guardians to allow educators
to use corporal punishment on their children.

"Each General Assembly changes," Lucas said.
"We have an enormous number of freshmen this year. I have
not had an opportunity to pursue their sentiments. I am sure it
will come up."

If the use of corporal punishment is not abused, it could be a
good deterrent for bad behavior, said Lucas, a retired educator.
But he said there are alternative measures for handling
discipline problems.

"It appears to be antiquated in some circles." Lucas
said. "With the additional counseling that we have available
in schools now, corporal punishment probably is less effective
than it used to be."

Gia Howell, whose children are in primary and middle schools
in Lumberton, said she feels parents should be the
disciplinarians, not school officials.

"To me, there are other ways of disciplining children at
school," she said.

Nancy Locklear supports corporal punishment. Locklear is the
mother of a sixth-grader at Union Elementary School in Rowland.
She said she signed the form authorizing school officials to
paddle her child.

"I agree with punishing children, as long as they don't
abuse it," she said. "I think they should leave it in
school."

Belinda Brewer, who also has children at Union Elementary,
said in some instances, it is good to have corporal punishment in
schools, as long as parents are aware of the policy.

"I am open to it as a form of discipline," she said.
"If kids don't think there is any repercussion for their
actions, it is just going to keep escalating."

Dr. Leontye Lewis, dean of the Fayetteville State University
School of Education, supports the state board's position. She
said some children act up in school because they are bored.

"Some teachers do not think about the students when they
plan a lesson. They think about the content," she said.
"If students are involved and engaged, it will keep them
motivated and excited about learning. I believe there are many
positive ways for children to adhere to the expectations in the
classroom rather than the use of corporal punishment."

Copyright - The Fayetteville Observer,
Fayetteville, N.C.

RELATED VIDEO CLIP

In light of the North Carolina State Board of Education's resolution, reported above, this two-minute report from the local Fox TV station in High Point/Greensboro, WGHP-8, takes a look (7 Feb 2013) at one school district, Randolph County, where CP is still on the books, but scarcely used. The Superintendent is interviewed. He has previously recommended abolition but the school board voted 6-1 two years ago to keep CP.

HERE IS THE CLIP:

IMPORTANT: Copyright in this video material rests with the original copyright holders. This brief excerpt is reproduced under the "fair use" doctrine for private, non-profit, historical research and education purposes only. It must not be redistributed or republished in any commercial context.

wral.com (WRAL-TV), Raleigh, North Carolina, 8 February 2013

Robeson County takes the lead in corporal punishment

Lumberton, N.C. -- The State Board of Education formalized its
stance this week against corporal punishment in schools, but
won't make a difference in Robeson County.

Robeson County is among a dozen of the state's 115 school
districts that still allow paddling as form of discipline. And
among those dozen, Robeson County takes the lead.

There were 267 student spankings in the district in the last
school year. That's far above second-place Graham County, which
reported 43.

Dwayne Smith, chairman of the county's Board of Education
policy committee, said the school has no plans to stop the
practice. He said corporal punishment works because children who
are spanked "very seldom come back."

"It's been effective in Robeson County, even back in the
days when I went to school," Smith said. "It's almost
like, 'Why fix something if it's not broke?'"

Robeson is a large, mostly poor county with 24,000 students in 42
schools. The district has forms for parents to give their written
consent to allow educators to use corporal punishment on their
children. Even with the consent form, administrators said, many
principals call parents beforehand.

The paddlings seem to be on the decline, with only 46 so far
this school year, Still, stories of the principal's paddle have
an almost mythical quality.

"Principal tore me up one time. I'll never forget
it," recalled Gloria Jacobs, a parent who has children at
Tanglewood Elementary School in Lumberton.

Parent Isiah Hunt said he was on board with the idea of
corporal punishment, saying it would "straighten out" a
lot of kids.

But Kiara Johnson disagreed.

"It's not their job to hit the kids. It's their job to
teach the kids and leave it up to the parents to do all
that," she said.

The state board approved a resolution Thursday against
corporal punishment, saying it can harm students physically,
mentally and emotionally. The board did not ask the General
Assembly to outlaw the practice, however.

Copyright 2013 by Capitol Broadcasting Company.
All rights reserved.

RELATED VIDEO CLIP

Two-and-a-half-minute news report at WRAL-TV, Raleigh, NC (8 Feb 2013) of which the above text is a considerably abbreviated version. Parents in Robeson County (a large and poor district, we are told) give different views. One parent claims not to have been informed of the CP policy, though the district says all parents get a letter at the beginning of the year. The district school board chairman is interviewed and says that CP works well and will not be abolished unless and until the state outlaws it. However, figures are presented showing that Robeson County has 42 schools, so a couple of hundred paddlings in a year, though the highest number in the state, is very small beer. The fact is that corporal punishment is nearly dead in North Carolina, and all the local media coverage it has been getting in recent times looks like a lot of fuss about very little.

HERE IS THE CLIP:

IMPORTANT: Copyright in this video material rests with the original copyright holders. This brief excerpt is reproduced under the "fair use" doctrine for private, non-profit, historical research and education purposes only. It must not be redistributed or republished in any commercial context.

The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, 13 February 2013, p.13A

Corporal punishment won't join cyberbullying measure

(extract)

An effort to reinstate corporal punishment in public schools
barely failed Tuesday.

The proposal was in an amendment to a bill that would add
cyberbullying to Oklahoma's anti-bullying laws.

The Oklahoma House of Representatives Common Education
Committee passed House Bill 1661. It now goes to the full House.

An amendment allowing corporal punishment in the classroom
failed 8-8. The amendment, by Rep. Doug Cox, would have allowed
any teacher in a school district to use corporal punishment if at
the teacher's discretion it is needed "to maintain
discipline and order in the classroom."

The amendment required the teacher to have parental
permission.

In Oklahoma, corporal punishment is up to each district.

"An increasing number of school boards are outlawing
corporal punishment, taking away the power of the teacher if the
teacher sees fit to use corporal punishment as a tool to maintain
proper decorum and discipline in the classroom that leads to a
good learning environment," said Cox, R-Grove.

"Part of a school's job is to prepare kids for life. Part
of being successful in life is to know that if you have negative
behavior that there's going to be negative consequences."

Cox said he doesn't think in-school suspension is seen as
punishment by students.

Cox isn't through seeking to reinstate corporal punishment in
Oklahoma's public schools. "I'm going to try to get it in
every education bill I can," he said.

Rep. Lee Denney, author of HB 1661, is making her second
attempt in two years to get a cyberbullying bill passed. The
House in 2011, after first approving it, defeated an amended
version. Opponents said it was another mandate being placed on
public schools and that parents and teachers can take of the
problem.

[...]

NOTE BY C.F.:

The above report, especially its opening line, may give the incorrect impression that as of Feb 2013 CP was already outlawed in Oklahoma. This is not so. Some school districts had banned it, others not. What Rep. Doug Cox seems to have wanted to restore was the right for any teacher to inflict paddlings in the classroom, with parental permission, whether the local school board approves or not -- surely an idea that is unlikely to fly even in the most conservative of places.